3. Participial Adjectives

There is a class of adjectives that is formed from participles, both present participle (verb ending in –ing) and past participle (verb ending in –ed). Such adjectives are called participial adjectives. Although derived from verbs, they function like other adjectives to describe the nouns. The past participle stated here as ending in -ed refers to regular verbs. Irregular verb end differently

The present participle that ends in -ing talks about the person, thing, or event, while past participle ending in -ed says how people feel.

Present participle: He is damaging his health by smoking excessively.

Past participle: He has damaged his health through excessive smoking.

Present participle used as adjective: Excessive smoking has a damaging effect on his health.

Past participle used as adjective: His damaged health is caused by excessive smoking.

The present participle adjective tells us about something or someone that causes a feeling: amazing.

The past participle adjective tells us how someone feels about something or someone else: amazed.